A Thousand Years of Peace

There are biblical mysteries that are fascinating, and that I simply don't understand. I learned a long time ago to accept this. The Bible makes it clear that there are some things that we won't understand, because they will not be revealed to us in this lifetime. Those things are for God to know, and He uses them for His purposes. I think it's okay to speculate about things, as long as it is recognized as such, and as long as one is not "creating" answers and labeling them as facts.

There are times though, when fellow Christians state things as facts, things which are very far removed from plain reading of the text. I am a bit mystified when that happens. I have a friend who is pretty quick to immediately correct errant teachings. As for me, I try to get a sense of whether or not the person doing so is open to any sort of discussion about their teaching and I move on from there. Sometimes even that doesn't keep me out of trouble. (laughing here)

A friend of mine likes to talk online about eschatology. He leans toward a more Calvinistic view of things, and to him, replacement theology is what allows him to see end times Scripture in a way that he finds agreeable. The subject of the Millennial reign of Jesus tends to come up, and we both have different views on that. What that comes back down to, I believe, is whether or not a plain reading of the text means what it says, and says what it means.

I think the Millennium is problematical for most people who hold to a covenantalist view, which is typically amillennialist. They might wonder why Jesus would want to return to this disease ridden, sin-laden, dark place. What possible purpose would His reigning here for a thousand years actually serve? Why must there be a Millennium? Questions like these can be hard to reconcile, and it is easier for some folks to simply spiritualize the Lord's Millennial reign, explaining it away as some sort of spiritual metaphor.

The trouble is, God has made promises to His chosen people, which must be fulfilled during that period of time. He said that the Jewish people who accept Jesus as their Savior will be gathered to Israel at the end of the Tribulation period. This is foretold in Ezekiel 36 and in Zechariah 10, and in several passages in Isaiah. They will be a wonderful example to the world of God's grace and mercy to all who turn to Him in repentance and faith. I believe this is laid out in Zechariah 8:13.

Promises to the church, will also be fulfilled during Jesus' Millennial reign. Daniel prophesied that the saints of the Lord would be given to reign with Him over the nations of the earth. Paul tells us that if we endure, we will also reign with Him. (2 Timothy 2:12) In the Lord's Revelation, John records hearing a heavenly host sing of a kingdom of priests to our God, "and they will reign upon the earth." (Revelation 5:10)

There are also prophecies (promises) made to the nations of the earth, that this great time of peace will come. God promised that there will be peace. Worldwide peace, for a thousand years. Can you think of a one-hundred year peace in recent history? A time when nations were not at war? Can you think of a ten-year period of peace? We certainly aren't in any such peaceful period of time now. But during His thousand year reign, God will give mankind a rest from wars.

God has promised that during the Millennium, that the weight of its fallen state will be lifted from the earth, and the curse placed upon it due to the sin of man will be taken away. The earth will be restored. It will no longer decay and degrade, but will once again reflect the beauty of His original creation. "So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' Ezekiel 36:35 (see also: Romans 8:18-23)

Above all of this, there are the promises that God the Father has made to His only begotten Son that will be fulfilled during His Millennial reign on earth. The Bible clearly states in Isaiah 24, 66 and in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 1, (vs. 7 through 10) that Jesus will return to earth to reveal His glory. That certainly didn't happen at His first coming. God promised as well, that He would give Jesus dominion to reign over all the world, and that He would do this from Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2 and Zechariah 14)

We have to remember that Jesus "sits at the right hand of power". He is a king who is waiting. He is waiting to come back and to show to the unbelieving that He rules, and that He has defeated sin. In the same way that David was anointed king over Israel, and waited for a long time before he actually reigned, Jesus is the anointed King of kings and Lord of lords, but His reign here, physically, has not yet begun. He serves, as the book of Hebrews says, as our High Priest, from the throne of God. (Chapter 8) He waits until the perfect moment in the wisdom of God to come and to claim His Kingdom.

Some events of the first thousand years of His Kingdom reign are plainly described in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 20, verses 2 through seven. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the word "thousand" in each of these verses should mean anything other than what it plainly says. The Millennium is an essential part of God's plan to glorify His Son. In this time, He will manifest the glory of the Lord before all of the redeemed, and in front of every nation on earth.

The Humanist will know he is wrong about God. The atheist will know he is wrong about God. The hedonist will know he is wrong about God. All who reject what the Bible says will come face to face with the reality that they have made the wrong choice. The Millennial reign of Christ on earth will show once and for all, with Satan tucked away for a thousand years in the pit, that his religion of pride is a totally bankrupt enterprise. God will demonstrate that the only way for society to be changed is through His grace and mercy, through repentance and faith in the great King Jesus.

The Millennial reign of Jesus is going to be the great moral proving ground, and He will use it to put mankind once again, into a perfect environment, filled with peace and with prosperity. In that thousand years, with Satan bound up, the entire world will grow in abundant righteousness. Think of that. A time like that has never existed. At the end of that time, Satan will be released, and many of mankind will turn to sin and perish in their sins. This will prove that what society needs is not "reform", but a true change of heart that can only come from the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

God is the faithful creator of the universe, and He makes promises and He keeps them all. He cannot deceive. He fulfilled all of the promises that He made concerning the first coming of His Son, and He will certainly fulfill all the promises He has made regarding His second coming. Those include the promises He has made concerning the duration of these thousand years.